


RFM - Papyrus

by Lady_Perun



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Death, Depression, Gen, Side Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 16:13:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6159310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Perun/pseuds/Lady_Perun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a side-story to my original story, Running From Myself, from Papyrus's view. </p><p>The end of this story connects with the beginning of Ch 9.</p>
            </blockquote>





	RFM - Papyrus

“UNDYNE, YOU ARE STARTING TO SLOW DOWN. PERHAPS YOU WOULD LIKE A BREAK?”

 

She looks at you with her one eye, glaring.

 

“Nah punk. I’m good.” Her breath was coming out hard as she started to pick up her pace. You easily kept up with her, as your body didn’t feel strain as hers did. Being made of magic and bones had its upsides, and not knowing muscle fatigue was a definite plus.

 

You and Undyne were getting ready for her class. She taught a specialized physical education course that included both monsters and humans, and tested them to their limits. Undyne got you a job as her assistant, convincing the college that having you there would keep the motivation high. That worked in both her favor, and in yours. You got a job, Undyne and you got to work with each other again, and you could help Sans with rent.

 

Not that he didn’t make more than enough for you both, but you didn’t like not doing anything while he did everything. Even in the Underground, Sans took three or four jobs to make ends meet. He had one job, one that he was good at and got paid well, but sometimes he would come home exhausted. It simply would not do that he was the only one doing anything of use.

 

You always got home in time to start making dinner, and Lady Toriel even got you a cookbook for pasta recipes. Who knew that there were so many different types of pasta other than spaghetti!

 

Sans’ personal favorite ended up being manicotti, so you made that nearly three times a week, along with spaghetti, lasagna, linguini, and your new personal favorite, ravioli. Lady Toriel would come over every now and then with pie, soup, or salad, but mostly pie.

 

Your father, Gaster, didn’t live with you and Sans but that didn’t stop him from coming by every so often for dinner and normal visits. Him and Sans worked together at the college, teaching something called physics and mechanical engineering. While Gaster was definitely the smartest, Sans could connect to the students more and helped them understand.

 

“Papyrus!” You were dragged out of your thoughts by Undyne. She was waving at you from a distance, and you quickly ran up to her. You hadn’t realized you stopped running until then.

 

“You ok?” She asked as you approached.

 

“YES. I WAS JUST LOST IN THOUGHT. I APOLOGIZE.”

 

She gave a wide, toothy smile. “No worries, just making sure you were still there. Class is gonna start soon, so we should head back.”

 

Your face lit up with a giant smile. “NYEH! THE GREAT PAPYRUS CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THE STUDENTS AGAIN.”

 

A deep and boisterous laugh sounded from her. “That’s the spirit!” She turned around and started heading towards the gym.

 

“Whoever gets to the gym first has to buy the other lunch!” With that, she sped up.

 

Determination filled you to the brim. “I WILL NOT LOSE SO EASILY!”

 

You caught up to her and continued to speed past her when a very loud sound distracted you. Turning around, you notice that Undyne had also stopped. The noise seemed to have come from the science building, where Sans and Gaster were.

 

“What are those boneheads doing now?” Undyne said as she shook her head and placed her hands on her hips.

 

Another large sound echoed through the air, most definitely coming from that building. Concern was growing within you. A few people were running out of the side doors of the building, and you could hear frantic yelling, but couldn’t make out what was being said. You walked up behind Undyne, and was about to ask her if you could go see what was wrong, when white light filled your vision, and the loudest sound you had ever heard went off.

 

You covered your ears and closed your eyes as the building exploded. The shockwaves hit you and Undyne, knocking you both over. Rumbling tremors were shaking the world around you, setting off car alarms and shattering windows.

 

The light faded and the sound dimmed slightly, only to be replaced by sirens and screams. You opened your eyes and hesitantly looked towards the building, which lay in a smoldering heap of fire, smoke, and crumbling building.

 

Tears welled in your eyes. _No. No… Nonononono_.

 

A sound escaped you, and Undyne whipped her head around. The look on her face was a mix of terror, sadness, concern, and anger. She grabbed you, wrapping her hands around your frame as the tears flowed out of you. The pressure in your chest kept building and building until it could not be contained.

 

You screamed. Not one of fear or pain.

 

You screamed because you knew.

 

You knew your father and brother were never coming home.

 

~~\|||/~~

 

A week later, they had recovered the remains of human bodies and managed to recover some of the monster dust. Not that that meant anything, since nobody could tell who was who.

 

The news coverage, which you only watched a little bit of, was mostly blaming Sans and Gaster. You didn’t understand what they meant by ‘negligence’ at first, but Lady Toriel had told you after a little while. She didn’t believe it. She even got angry. You had never seen her so angry.

 

She cried, of course, but she was mostly angry. Alphys was safe, and only that way because she had been in the main building tending to some business with the college officials. She hadn’t been taking the news too well, and when she realized that she nearly died that day, it got worse. She stopped talking to everyone, including Undyne, was shaking uncontrollably, and wouldn’t come out of her room, let alone her house.

 

Frisk refused to go to school. She couldn’t focus on anything, let alone keep herself from crying her heart out. Sans was her one true best friend. Even though you were there to comfort her as she was comforting you, nobody would be able to help fill the void that Sans had left in your souls.

 

Two weeks after the accident, the King and Queen held a funeral for both Sans and Gaster. There were other monsters whose funerals had happened, and you all attended them as well. The humans didn’t want you and your family anywhere near them, so you didn’t attend.

 

They were given headstones, so they would have something to remember them by, since there was no dust to prove it was them. Nothing was placed on Gasters’ grave, since he liked simplicity. Sans’ grave, though, had a single echo flower. The family had left it up to you to say the last words into the echo flower. You cried as you approached it, not sure what to say.

 

Gathering your thoughts, you finally thought of something to say. It was simple, but you meant it.

 

“Travel safe, Sans. I love you.”

 

~~\|||/~~

 

A few months pass and the feelings have not yet passed, nor have they faded. Everyone had to get on with their lives, though definitely not with the same spunk as they usually had. Even you had to admit that life was dull without Sans’ puns or Gasters’ intelligent comebacks.

 

Frisk and Lady Toriel went back to school; Asgore went back to his duties as King, and Undyne and you went back to teaching physical education.

 

You had changed, and everyone knew it. You no longer shouted, no longer gave effort into normal everyday things, were no longer excited. You hardly even put effort into cooking anymore. You sold your home that Sans and you had shared, since you could no longer afford the rent, so you lived with Undyne and Alphys.

 

You couldn’t even enjoy watching anime, having cooking lessons, or playing games. Everything became dull.

 

One day, Alphys came up to you, and asked to speak with you privately. You didn’t know what she had to talk about, but you nodded and followed her to her room. Closing the door behind you, you turned towards her, taking notice that she was not shivering and actually looked at you quite sternly.

 

“Papyrus.” She said, a hint of coldness entering her voice.

 

You glared at her a second before responding. “Yes, Alphys?”

 

“You need to understand the situation you are putting yourself in. I don’t want to see anything happen to you.”

 

_She said that without stuttering?_

 

You shrugged, the feeling foreign and weird. _Why did Sans ever do that?_

 

“What happens to me is nothing compared to what happened to Sans. I can deal with it when that time comes.”

 

Her look hardened. “No, Papyrus, you won’t be able to deal with it.”

 

You looked at her again, one eyebrow cocked. “Then what’s wrong with me, Alphys?”

 

She looked down at her clawed hands, scrunching her nose. “Papyrus, you’re falling.”

 

That hit you, and hit you hard. _How the hell could you be falling? You felt fine_.

 

“H-… How?” You asked, your voice a whisper.

 

She slowly looked up to you and said, “Sometimes you can’t feel it. It’s different for every monster, but the point is I can see it, and your checkup I did last week confirmed it. If you continue, Papyrus, you will eventually fall down. We can’t…” her hands started shaking, and you could see her eyes fill with un-spilled tears. “We can’t lose you, too.”

 

The tears flowed freely now, and you couldn’t help but feel horrible. You were falling because you didn’t know how to deal with yourself after their deaths. You were falling, and when others knew, they were going to feel horrible. You wouldn’t allow that. You couldn’t.

 

“Alphys…” you tried to keep yourself composed, only to have that effort wasted as tears rolled down your face. She shook her head.

 

“Papyrus, I can’t say I understand how you feel. We are all feeling something, but you feel it stronger than any of us. But please, do something for yourself. Don’t let yourself fall.”

 

All you could do was nod as she waddled up to you and took one of your hands in both of hers. “Live for yourself as they lived for you.” She whispered.

 

That broke any barrier you had put up. You cried openly, holding onto Alphys as she embraced you, rubbing your spine.

 

What seemed like an hour of crying finally ended, and you had a sense of some new feeling taking over you. What Alphys said last hit you the right way. You were going to live for them. You had to, because… because that’s what the Great Papyrus always does.

 

Smiling a little, you left Alphys’ room and headed to yours. Opening your closet door, you opened one of the boxes that rested towards the back, and pulled out a hefty piece of blue cloth. It reeked of ketchup, but washing it would fix that. You furrowed your brow and glared at the jacket. Sighing, you got up and set it in the washer.

 

A couple hours later, it was clean. Going back to your room and placing yourself in front of the mirror, you put on the jacket. It looked weird on you, definitely too big, but it was comfy. You had something to remind you of Sans, now. Going back to your closet, you opened another box, more towards the front, and grabbed your old glasses. Putting them on, they still fit and you could see better. Looking at the mirror again, you looked like your father. Smiling, you stood there for a few more minutes before heading back out with determination you didn’t know you had.

 

~~\|||/~~

 

The next month was a breeze, and you were back to your normal self, which seemed to improve the moods of your family. Undyne was back as her normal self, loud and peppy. Alphys was coming out more often and could hold conversations. Frisk started doing well in school again, as she was able to concentrate more, as well as have something to look forward to coming home to. Lady Toriel still had a trace of sadness when she saw you wearing Sans’ jacket when you came over, but you had been practicing on puns, to her delight. You got many thanks from Asgore for that.

 

All was going well for your family once again. You were so incredibly happy.

 

Of course, you visited their graves once a week to check on them as well as talk to nothing about everything.

 

Today was one of the days you visited. Done talking, you bid them goodbye, and walked back towards the house, when your phone started to ring. Getting it out of the jacket pocket, you looked at the caller ID, but it was an unsaved number. Frowning, you answered the call on the third ring.

 

“HELLO? WHO IS THIS?”

 

A small gasp sounded from the caller, and you could hear some small chatter. Was this one of those prank calls?

 

“HELLO?” You say again, slight irritation filling your voice.

 

“Sorry! Sorry.” The voice, which was definitely female, said.

 

“I’m sorry, I just, uh… This… This is Papyrus, correct?”

 

Your frown deepened and your brow furrowed. “YES. WHO IS THIS?”

 

“I’m just a friend of a friend. I have one request, Papyrus. I have someone here who is an old friend of yours, who would love to talk to you, but not over the phone.”

 

“DO YOU WISH TO MEET IN PERSON?”

 

“I’m afraid not. We don’t live near you. I was thinking of a video call. Do you have something called Skype?”

 

“I WILL HAVE TO ASK MY FRIENDS. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS.”

 

“That’s fine. Just… Just text me if they do, ok? If they don’t we can just do the phone call.”  
  
“WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT THAT IT BE A VIDEO CALL, IF I MAY ASK?”

 

A pause, and more chatter. Who was this person, and what friend could they be talking about?

“If I told you, it would ruin the surprise. I’m sorry for being cryptic, Papyrus, but I mean you no harm, I assure you. Please, see about asking your friends about Skype, ok?”

 

“I SHALL DO THAT. MAY I ASK WHAT YOUR NAME IS?”

 

A little laugh sounded from the woman. “My name is Zenyth.”


End file.
